Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Arctotisxc3x97hybrida cultivar Archley.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Arctotis plant, botanically known as Arctotisxc3x97hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Archleyxe2x80x99.
The new Arctotis is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia. The objective of the breeding program is to create new compact Arctotis cultivars that flower early and have interesting floret colors.
The new Arctotis originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1998 of the Arctotisxc3x97hybrida cultivar Flame, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Arctotisxc3x97hybrida cultivar Silver Carpet, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Arctotis was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia, in May, 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new Arctotis by terminal vegetative cuttings was first conducted in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia in May, 1999. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Arctotis are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Archley has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Archleyxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Archleyxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Arctotis:
1. Compact, upright and mounded plant habit.
2. Very freely branching growth habit.
3. Freely flowering habit.
4. Yellow orange-colored ray florets and nearly black-tipped disc florets with orange-colored pollen.
Plants of the new Arctotis are most similar to plants of the female parent, the cultivar Flame. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia, plants of the new Arctotis differed from plants of the cultivar Flame in the following characteristics:
1. Developing leaves of plants of the new Arctotis were grey in color whereas developing leaves of plants of the cultivar Flame were green in color.
2. Flowers of plants of the new Arctotis had yellow orange colored ray florets whereas flowers of plants of the cultivar Flame had orange-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Arctotis can also be compared to plants of the male parent, the cultivar Silver Carpet. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Cobbitty, New South Wales, Australia, plants of the new Arctotis differed from plants of the cultivar Silver Carpet in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Arctotis were more upright than and not as spreading as plants of the cultivar Silver Carpet.
2. Flowers of plants of the new Arctotis had yellow orange-colored ray florets whereas flowers of plants of the cultivar Silver Carpet had pink-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Arctotis differ from plants of the cultivar Archnah, disclosed in a U.S. Plant Patent application filed concurrently, primarily in plant size, branching habit, leaf color and ray floret color.